The Embodiment of Law: Altered Carbon and Six Wakes

Abstract

Abstract Mur Lafferty’s novel Six Wakes (2017) and the Netflix television series Altered Carbon (2018–present), created by Laeta Kalogridis and based on a novel written by Richard K. Morgan, both portray futuristic societies wherein death as we conceive of it has been rendered nearly obsolete because of technological advancements. In the case of Altered Carbon, the series imagines a twenty-fourth century dystopian society which relies on alien technology to transfer individuals’ consciousness into new bodies (referred to in the series as “sleeves”). In Six Wakes, a novel set in the twenty-fifth century, cloning and “mind-mapping” work together to bring about a similar process. Through these processes, both Six Wakes and Altered Carbon call specific attention to the unstable boundaries between human and posthuman. While in Six Wakes and Altered Carbon alike, beings have not achieved true immortality, they have gained something akin to it. Death remains a possibility for these post-human beings, but they have the potential to download their consciousness into other bodies on a (theoretically) limitless basis. These science fiction narratives thus raise new questions related to embodiment and post-humanism. Indeed, throughout Six Wakes, Lafferty devotes a significant amount of care to mapping out the legal considerations and consequences that human cloning invariably bring about. This facet of her novel works to raise questions about the ethics of cloning as well as about the legal and ontological status of clones. In Altered Carbon, a new legal frontier is likewise explored since the ultra-rich try on and discard bodies (“sleeves”) in a manner which prompts a re-definition of the concept of personhood while they simultaneously manipulate law enforcement and the legal system to suit their whims. Alongside the legal questions they raise, the science fiction scenarios depicted in these narratives serve as cases-in-point to demonstrate a post-human view of embodiment.